


You Get What You Need

by lco123



Category: Pretty Little Liars
Genre: F/F, Kid Fic, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-10
Updated: 2017-05-10
Packaged: 2018-10-30 05:33:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10870149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lco123/pseuds/lco123
Summary: Time stands still in Rosewood. Nothing ever really changes.That isn’t how things actually work. In real life, people have to work hard and come home late, and there are no mysteries or board games to fill up the hours in the day. There’s just coffee and meetings and fighting through and not much space for anything else. It’s why Spencer hasn’t been able to maintain a relationship in D.C. It’s also why Hanna shows up outside her building one day, wearing an oversized sweatshirt and the face of someone who’s cried so much she needs more water before she can cry again.Melissa arrives in D.C. with a surprise that will rock Spencer and Hanna's world.





	You Get What You Need

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this story kicking around in my head forever, and I finally decided to write it! Hope you enjoy. This is meant to take place sometime after the series, but based on the info we had at the time 7x13 aired.

So it goes a little something like this:

Hanna breaks up with Caleb. Again. Spencer is surprised until she isn’t. Back in Rosewood it seemed like those two were days away from walking down the aisle. But she understands how things can fall apart out in the real world. It happened to her and Toby, back in college. And it happened to her and Marco, as soon as she went back to D.C. Time stands still in Rosewood. Nothing ever really changes.

That isn’t how things actually work. In real life, people have to work hard and come home late, and there are no mysteries or board games to fill up the hours in the day. There’s just coffee and meetings and fighting through and not much space for anything else. It’s why Spencer hasn’t been able to maintain a relationship in D.C. It’s also why Hanna shows up outside her building one day, wearing an oversized sweatshirt and the face of someone who’s cried so much she needs more water before she can cry again.

“Can I stay here?” Hanna asks, and Spencer doesn’t ask why, she just says yes. The next few days she learns a bit more: apparently Hanna’s growing fashion empire is being stilted by the proximately to Claudia and her iron fist of destruction, so Hanna’s been thinking of relocating anyway. It makes a certain amount of sense, since Mona lives in D.C and is still helping Hanna build the company.

Spencer doesn’t ask about the breakup, even though she wants to. She can piece it together, well enough: in the choice between Hanna and Caleb, Hanna picked herself. And he didn’t like it. Spencer knows Caleb well enough to recall that he can be more than a little self-centered at times. 

Not that she and Hanna are going to compare relationship notes.

“I’ll only stay here a week,” Hanna promises. “Two weeks, tops. I’m going to start looking for a place right away.”

A year later, and Hanna hasn’t left. But she _has_ completely redecorated the apartment, in a manner Spencer actually approves of, bringing more light and color into a space that previously was just used as a place to eat and sleep. Hanna’s still messy, and yet as time goes on, Spencer finds she minds it less and less. There’s a comfort in the clutter. 

Though she’d never admit that to Hanna.

Neither one of them is dating anyone, but at least for Spencer, that isn’t unusual. She isn’t even thinking about a relationship; Hanna’s presence is about all she can handle these days. Work is busy as ever, and there are barely enough hours in the day for Spencer to get to a shower, much less a boyfriend.

Besides, she likes their routine. Hanna’s business is completely taking off, which means that they’re both gone most of the day. So evenings are spent ordering takeout and watching something mindless on TV, followed by a coordinated effort to get things cleaned up and the both of them off to bed at a decent hour, considering the fatigue the following day will bring. It might not seem like much, but it works for Spencer.

And then one day everything changes. There’s a knock on the door, and when Spencer answers it, Melissa is standing there with a baby in her arms.

“This is my daughter,” Melissa says. “And we need your help.”

“What?” Spencer gapes. She hasn’t spoken to Melissa in nearly a year. Ever since finding out about Mary Drake, about the lie that was her entire childhood, Spencer has pretty much avoided everyone in her family. Her mom has tried to call, but Melissa hasn’t. Spencer assumed she was busy.

Clearly, she was.

Melissa bustles into the apartment, nodding toward a bag in the hallway. “Those are her things,” Melissa explains, starting to pace. She’s not even looking at Spencer. She’s looking at the baby, at the floor, all over the place. If Spencer didn’t know better, she’d think Melissa was on something. “There’s formula and tons of diapers. I’m sure you’ll need to buy more, but there’s lots of cash in there too.”

“Melissa,” Spencer says pleadingly. “What are you talking about? When did you have a baby? What is going—”

“I don’t have time to explain everything!” Melissa interjects. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to do this to you. I should have told you earlier. I should have—” She stops pacing and looks at Spencer. Her eyes are tearful and tired, and her hair is as unkempt as Spencer has ever seen it. “I got pregnant, and I thought I could do it alone. I was going to tell you as soon as—as soon as I was _good_ at it. But then something happened.”

“What happened?” Spencer asks. She wants to hold Melissa steady, to force her to explain. But there’s something so frantic about Melissa that Spencer finds herself almost afraid. “Is someone after you? Is it the baby’s father?”

Melissa rolls her eyes. “Oh, please. He’s harmless. No, this has nothing to do with the baby. There’s something that I have to do, and I can’t have her with me. If I take her to Mom and Dad, they won’t let me leave. They’ll have a private investigator on me, and then I’ll never get her back.”

“You think they’d keep your baby from you?”

Melissa shakes her head, frustrated. “No, that’s not it. This is just…it’s so complicated, Spencer.”

“What else is new?” Spencer murmurs. Her gaze is drawn to the baby cooing in Melissa’s arms. She’s adorable, the spitting image of Melissa’s baby pictures from that age. “Do Mom and Dad know about her?”

“No,” Melissa admits. “They think I’ve been working in Spain for the last year.”

Spencer chuckles mirthlessly. “This might be the first time I know a secret about you that they don’t.”

“First time for everything,” Melissa says curtly.

Spencer gulps, the reality of this situation hitting her. “You want me to take care of your baby.”

“Yes,” Melissa confirms. “Just for a little while. I’ll explain everything later, I promise. But right now I have to go.”

“You can’t just leave!” Spencer insists.

“I have to!” Melissa exclaims, loud enough for the baby to start whimpering. “I promise you, I will come back.”

“When?”

“As soon as I can.”

Spencer feels her stomach slosh. “I don’t know anything about kids. And she knows you. It’s not like you can just walk away.”

“She’s only two months old,” Melissa tells her. “She’ll bond to you quick. Please.” She sniffs, and Spencer can see that she’s actively fighting back tears. “I don’t have anyone else I can trust.”

It’s a strange thing to hear from Melissa— _Melissa,_ who Spencer spent so many years completely distrusting. Melissa, who isn’t even Spencer’s full biological sister.

Melissa, who is standing here looking more desperate than Spencer has ever seen her.

“What’s her name?” Spencer asks.

Melissa smiles, just a little, and steps forward. Spencer realizes what’s about to happen, so she bends her arms into a cradle, surprised by how light the baby is as Melissa hands her off.

“Charlotte.”

\--

Melissa leaves not long after that, and once Spencer can figure out how to transfer the baby into one arm without killing her, she calls Hanna in a panic. Spencer explains as much as she knows, and Hanna diligently listens to the whole thing before declaring, “Okay, first thing’s first: we’re not calling this kid Charlotte. What’s her middle name?”

“If you would believe it or not,” Spencer whispers, “it’s Drake. I think Melissa is totally fucking with us.”

“Don’t say _fuck_ ,” Hanna reprimands. “You’re holding a baby.”

“She can’t hear me!”

“Sure she can,” Hanna replies. “She just can’t understand you. Yet.”

“Then why would it even matter—” Spencer cuts herself off. “Whatever. Not the point. You seem calmer than I expected.”

“Oh, believe me, I’m freaking out internally,” Hanna assures her. “But I can tell you’re about to lose it, and now we apparently have a baby to take care of, so I’m trying to be the calm one. At least on the outside.”

Baby Charlotte snuffles in her sleep and Spencer stares at her, wide-eyed. “What the hell am I doing with a baby?”

“Language,” Hanna admonishes.

“I’m sorry,” Spencer murmurs. “Not just for the swearing. I’m sorry that this is my family. That a baby has been dropped at our doorstep, and now we have to deal with it.”

“It isn’t your fault,” Hanna says. “You didn’t ask for this. You should call your mom. In fact, I’m surprised she wasn’t your first call.”

Spencer shrugs to no one. “I guess you’re more family than her these days. I don’t even know if my mom _should_ take the baby. Clearly whatever Melissa is up to is important, and she’s right that if our parents—if _her_ parents—get involved, she won’t be able to do whatever it is she’s doing in peace.”

“You want to keep this on the DL,” Hanna realizes. 

“Maybe,” Spencer replies. “At least for the time being. Is that okay with you?”

“Us temporarily raising your sister’s baby?”

Hearing Hanna say it makes the whole situation seem that much more ridiculous. “Well, when you put it like that…” Spencer sighs.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Hanna tells her. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll make it work.”

“Do you really believe that?”

Spencer can almost hear Hanna’s grin. “Hell no.”

\--

Hanna takes one look at Charlotte and decides they’re calling her Lottie. “Melissa didn’t tell you anything about why she named her that?” Hanna asks.

“Nada,” Spencer replies, bouncing the newly-dubbed Lottie lightly on her shoulder. “But Lottie seems to fit her.”

“I’ll be damned if we’re calling her Charlotte,” Hanna mutters.

“Language,” Spencer says cheekily.

Hanna rolls her eyes and goes about splitting up take-out, then wordlessly prepares a bottle of formula for Lottie. “Thank you,” Spencer murmurs.

“It’s not like I’m going to let you do this alone,” Hanna replies. “If you’re in this, I’m in this.”

“I love you,” Spencer says immediately, meaning it to sound lighter than it does. Hanna looks up at her sharply, but then Lottie starts crying and Hanna goes back to dealing with the food.

Hanna basically has to feed Spencer that night, while Spencer feeds the baby. It’s somehow both harder and easier than Spencer could have imagined.

\--

That turns out to be a theme, Spencer quickly learns: things being both harder and easier than she thought they’d be. Lottie is a pretty good sleeper, thankfully. Spencer didn’t know where they were going to put her so she just plunked Lottie into the bed beside her, but the baby seems pretty happy to sleep close, and Spencer doesn’t want to think that they’ll have her for long enough to invest in a crib.

Spencer explains the situation as best she can to her boss, ending up with some weird version of unpaid sick leave-slash-maternity-leave, which buys her a week. After that, her boss says, she can try bringing Lottie to the office “on a trial basis.” 

When Spencer tells this to Hanna, Hanna gives her a look like the solution is obvious. “Have your week break,” Hanna says. “Then I’ll bring her to work with me. It’s just me and Mona and some fabric, at this point. What’s the worst she can do?”

“Throw up on the clothes?” Spencer offers.

“Whatever,” Hanna says. “Like some drunk models don’t do worse on the regular. It’ll be fine.”

Hanna is pretty blasé about the whole thing, while Spencer herself has been relentlessly uptight. Though she starts loosening up a bit. It’s weird, being home all day with a baby, but Spencer can work when Lottie’s sleeping, and in truth, having a break is sort of nice. And Lottie is a pretty easy baby. She’s always fussy in the mornings or when she’s hungry, but giving her a bottle or taking her outside seem to help. She loves going on walks, and Melissa at least had the sense to pack a collapsable stroller for her. People always assume they’re mother and daughter out in the world, though Spencer is quick to correct them.

And then suddenly the week is over, and Spencer has to go back to work, and the strangest part of all is how much she misses being with the baby. She calls three times during her first day back, and the third time Mona answers the phone.

“The baby is fine, Spencer,” Mona says in a slightly exasperated tone. “Hanna is designing onesies in the margins of her evening gowns, though, so I have a feeling you’re both getting too attached.”

Spencer wrinkles her nose at the suggestion. It’s not just that it’s coming from Mona; living with Hanna has meant adjusting to having Mona in her life, and Spencer’s done okay as long as her firm boundaries are respected. More often than not, they are.

But there may be some truth to Mona’s statement. Another week goes by, and Spencer finds herself rushing home from work to get to Lottie. Hanna is pretty much a natural with the kid, which is wonderful, but Spencer is pretty good with her too. Much better than she would have expected.

And then one day on her way home, Emily calls. 

“Why didn’t you tell us about the baby?” she demands by way of greeting.

“Hanna told you,” Spencer realizes.

“Well, somebody had to!” Emily replies. “This is a big deal! Melissa had a baby you didn’t know about, and now you and Hanna are raising her? What the hell, Spencer?!”

Spencer sighs. She can’t muster any real upset at Hanna. She would probably do the same thing if the situation were reversed. “We’re not raising her, exactly,” she clarifies. “Melissa had to go do…something, and I’m taking care of her daughter while she does.”

“And you’re keeping this from your parents, I take it?”

“They don’t even know she exists,” Spencer tells her. “So, yes. Melissa has her reasons, I’m sure.”

“Why are you defending her?” Emily asks.

Spencer considers that a moment. It’s a question she herself has wondered over these past couple weeks. The baby softens the situation, to be sure. Babies have an annoying way of doing that. But it isn’t just Lottie. “We’ve been at odds with each other my entire life,” Spencer says. “This is finally an opportunity for us to be on the same side. That might not make much sense.”

“It does, I guess,” Emily will allow. “You still should have called us. We have a kid. We could help.”

“Is that an offer?”

Emily chuckles. “Ali’s already booked our flight.”

\--

“Emily called me today,” Spencer reveals over dinner.

Hanna looks up at her guiltily. She’s feeding Lottie tonight, though Lottie seems more interested in staring at Hanna’s intricate earrings. 

“I needed a reality check,” Hanna admits. “Or at least for someone else to know.”

“I understand,” Spencer tells her. “This is all a lot. And if you want out—”

“I don’t,” Hanna interjects. “Not at all. But I needed to talk to another person about it.”

“You can talk to me,” Spencer says softly. “What’re you thinking about?”

Hanna tries once more to get the bottle into Lottie’s mouth before giving up and going back to lightly bouncing her. “I’m scared that we’re going to do something wrong,” she admits. “And I’m scared that Melissa will never come back. But I’m also scared that she will.”

Spencer nods sympathetically. “I totally get all of that. I’m scared of those things too. I don’t want you to feel like you’re carrying this burden all on your own.”

“It’s not a burden, and I don’t feel that way,” Hanna assures her. “I know this is probably even harder for you than it is for me.”

“Weirder, maybe,” Spencer acknowledges. “Though I suppose in normal families an aunt taking care of a niece isn’t that strange.”

Hanna smiles. “Your family couldn’t be further from normal.”

Spencer nods. “Don’t I know it.” She holds up her wine glass to toast. “To being scared together?”

Hanna holds up the baby bottle in return. “To being scared together.”

\--

Spencer has been around him dozens of times, but it never fails to surprise her just how much Theodore Wayne DiLaurentis looks like Emily. Theo is nearly two and totally adorable, with Ali’s spunk but a bit of Emily’s shyness. 

“Thank god,” Alison declares when Spencer mentions that to her. “Can you imagine raising the boy version of me?”

“We’re working on him being the best guy in Rosewood,” Emily explains.

“Not that there’s a lot of competition,” Ali adds.

It’s good to see the three of them so steady and settled. Emily and Alison finally got together in the last few months of Ali’s pregnancy, and as far as Spencer can tell, they’ve been happy ever since. They got married last year, which was the last time Spencer was in Rosewood. Maybe forever, she’d thought at the time.

After dinner Hanna and Emily work on getting the kids to sleep, Emily in Hanna’s room and Hanna in Spencer’s. Ali and Em offered to get a hotel, but Spencer and Hanna insisted they could make it work for a night or two. 

Alison and Spencer share some wine in the kitchen as they clean up dinner. “You guys seem good,” Spencer comments.

“We are,” Alison tells her. Every time Spencer has seen her in the past few years, she’s seemed more and more relaxed, more sure of herself. It’s a sight to behold. “And you guys seem as good as possible, given the circumstances.”

Spencer hands Alison a dish, then turns off the faucet. There’s a question that’s been bugging her ever since Ali arrived. “Do you know why Melissa would name her kid Charlotte? I never thought they knew each other.”

Alison gives her that look, the one that means she has answers to questions Spencer hasn’t even thought to ask. “Maybe we should sit,” she suggests.

Spencer raises an eyebrow. “That serious, huh?”

Ali takes a long sip of wine, before looking up at Spencer as they take a seat. “A few months ago I decided to clear out some of Charlotte’s things. I spent a week going through her journals, trying to find anything significant that I might want to hold onto. I couldn’t decipher a lot of it; she wrote in code some of the time, or in other languages. But in one of the journals, she wrote about this beautiful rich girl, just labeled as M. I didn’t think much of it at first. Charlotte wrote about a lot of different people. But then I started to notice details that seemed familiar.”

Spencer feels the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. “It was Melissa.”

“I think so,” Alison murmurs. “There were too many similarities, and the timing matched up with when Charlotte was getting out of Radley and going to parties. The journal…it made it seem like they were in love, Spence. Or at least as close to love as Charlotte ever got.”

Spencer shakes her head. She could live a thousand lifetimes, and still have new things to learn about Melissa. “So, let me get this straight: you’re saying that my sister on my mother’s side and my sister on my father’s side were in a relationship?”

“Well, at least _they_ aren’t sisters,” Ali says. “But yeah, I think that about covers it.”

“Why didn’t you tell me as soon as you found out?” Spencer asks.

Alison sighs. “I know how tense things have been between you and your family. I didn’t want to make it worse.”

Spencer narrows her eyes. “That’s uncharacteristically mature of you.”

“I’m going to let that one slide, since you’ve been through a lot recently,” Ali says with pursed lips.

“Do you think—do you think that’s what Melissa’s trying to do?” Spencer muses. “Avenge Charlotte’s death, or something?”

“I have no idea,” Alison replies. “Not a day goes by that I don’t think about doing the same thing. The fact that her killer has never been caught makes me so angry I could scream.” She takes a deep breath. “But I have a family. A wife and a son and a job. I can’t give all of that up and start tracking down murderers. I worked too hard to get here.”

“Maybe Melissa doesn’t feel the same way,” Spencer posits.

Alison smiles sadly. “Maybe so.”

\--

The couch isn’t really big enough for anyone to sleep on, so Hanna, Spencer and Lottie all share Spencer’s bed that night. It works better than it should, even though Lottie is up and down for most of the night. When Spencer wakes up in the morning she’s greeted by the image of Hanna’s sleeping form curled around a blessedly still-asleep Lottie. 

Spencer’s eyes immediately and inexplicably fill with tears, but she blames it on the early morning sunshine.

\--

Spencer starts losing track of time. One month becomes two, then three, and before she knows it the holiday season is upon them. Hanna insists they buy Lottie a “Baby’s First Christmas” ornament, to go along with the four different holiday-themed outfits Mona helped her whip up.

Hanna’s first Christmas in the apartment was nothing special, but this year she decides that she and Spencer should go all out. “If her mom isn’t here, we can at least make it a nice Christmas for her,” she tells Spencer.

“She’s not going to remember it,” Spencer points out.

“Doesn’t matter,” Hanna replies. “ _We’ll_ remember it, and then we can feel good about it.” She doesn’t say, _when Lottie’s gone_ , but Spencer feels it in the way Hanna’s eyes shift over Lottie’s small, sweet face. 

It’s Saturday, and they’re finally catching up on some much-needed household chores. The apartment has been steadily looking more and more unkempt, especially as Lottie’s collection of onesies and toys has grown. The three of them are currently on the floor, Lottie wiggling around on a blanket while Spencer and Hanna attempt to tackle a mountain of laundry.

Spencer folds one of Hanna’s T-shirts, then rubs a hand over Lottie’s belly, making her smile. The first time she did that Spencer felt like her heart was exploding inside her chest. It was pretty ridiculous, frankly.

“The tree can go there,” Hanna decides, pointing to a spot next to the TV. “And we should get Santa pictures taken next weekend.”

“Santa pictures?” Spencer says incredulously. “I thought all mall Santas were out-of-work actors or alcoholic creeps, according to you.”

“Usually, yes,” Hanna says. “But we’ll go to the nice mall with the less creepy Santa, and I’ll slip him a Tic Tac so he doesn’t get beer breath in Lottie’s face.”

A few days later when Spencer comes home from work, the entire apartment has been decorated. There’s a small fake tree in the corner—as promised—a garland over the windows, and mistletoe in the doorway. Bing Crosby is singing about jingle bells, and Lottie is lying on a red and green blanket, wearing a onesie with the words “Santa’s Little Helper” printed on it.

“What has gotten into you?” Spencer murmurs, as Hanna bustles out of the kitchen.

Hanna shrugs, holding up an eggnog cocktail for Spencer. “It’s Christmas. We have a baby. This is what people do.”

“It’s what _parents_ do,” Spencer corrects, peeling off her coat and accepting the drink.

“Tell me one difference between us and all the parents out there,” Hanna instructs, her tone developing a very slight edge.

“Well, for one, we’ve never had sex with one another,” Spencer mutters. She means it as a joke, but Hanna furrows her brow, studying Spencer for a moment.

“We can change that, if you want,” she says softly.

Spencer sets down her cocktail. “Han—” she starts.

“We’re standing under mistletoe,” Hanna cuts in. “According to the rules of Christmas, I have to kiss you.”

Spencer doesn’t point out that she’s technically barely under the mistletoe, that in fact Hanna is a good two feet away from it. She doesn’t point it out, because in that moment she wants to kiss Hanna so badly she’s sure she must always have wanted to, in some part of her mind.

Hanna kisses Spencer with the kind of passion that Spencer hasn’t experienced in a very long time, if ever. Spencer holds her tight, as close as she can, and it feels warm and sexy and impossibly right. The moment is only broken by Lottie starting to cry, but Hanna merely scoops her up and kisses Spencer again.

And that’s how Lottie gets her very own room and a new crib for Christmas, once Hanna starts sharing Spencer’s bed.

\--

As time goes on, Spencer starts to worry more and more. Melissa is unreachable, her cell phone having been disconnected. _Unreachable_ isn’t really true, because Spencer has Mona in her life, so she could get in touch with Melissa if she wanted to.

But she doesn’t want to. In fact, her desire for Melissa to come back is becoming smaller and smaller. Still, Melissa has been gone for a long time, doing something that could be dangerous, and for that Spencer worries.

She worries whenever her phone rings that it’s either the police calling to say Melissa’s body has been found, or Melissa herself calling to say that she’s coming back.

A very shameful part of Spencer will admit that she’s not sure which scenario she fears more.

And yet, it’s the truth. Lottie has been with them for over twice as long as she was with Melissa. And now that Spencer and Hanna are together, it really feels like they are a family. Spencer stops correcting people when they assume she and Hanna are Lottie’s moms. Instead, she just smiles and says thank you. Hanna starts talking about longterm plans, about what they should do in the event Melissa never comes back.

“What if she’s okay, but she just decided she doesn’t want to be a mom?” Hanna asks one day. 

Spencer doesn’t point out how hopeful her tone is.

And then one day it all comes crashing down. It isn’t a phone call, but a knock, like all those months before. Spencer goes to answer the door and there’s Melissa, standing hand-in-hand with Charlotte DiLaurentis.

“You’re—you’re—” Spencer gasps.

“Alive,” Charlotte supplies. “Nice to see you too, Spencer.”

“I’m sorry we didn’t call,” Melissa says, a little too casually for Spencer’s taste. “But after everything, it just seemed easier to come here. Can we come in?”

Spencer wordlessly steps aside. Her brain and body are feeling so much at once that she feels sick to her stomach. She takes a few deep breaths.

“Lottie is with Hanna,” Spencer says as evenly as possible. “At her work.”

“Lottie?” Melissa murmurs.

Spencer nods. Her head is spinning. “That’s what we call her.”

“I like it,” Melissa murmurs. She drops Charlotte’s hand and takes a step toward Spencer. “Thank you,” she says softly. “For everything. I’m sorry I was gone so long.”

“What happened?” Spencer asks weakly.

“A month after Char—after Lottie was born, a picture was sent to me of Charlotte in a bunker,” Melissa explains. “I don’t know why it was sent to me and not Alison.”

“He must have figured you had less to lose,” Charlotte suggests.

“Maybe,” Melissa says. “Anyway, it was from A.D. He knew that Charlotte and I had a history, and he planned it out so that even if he died, the message would still get to me.”

“And it did,” Spencer recognizes.

“Yes. So I knew she was alive,” Melissa continues.

“A.D. made me fake my own death,” Charlotte says. “And then he kidnapped me. He tried to use my knowledge, to get me to reveal how to play the game. I gave just enough info to stay alive, and then after he was killed I figured a way out of there. I didn’t want to contact anyone. I thought it was too dangerous.”

“That’s why I didn’t tell anyone either,” Melissa adds. “If this was a trap, if someone was still pulling the strings, I didn’t want anyone else to get hurt. And I figured if something _did_ happen to me, you’d be the best person to take care of my daughter. I spent months and months trying to find Charlotte, using the bunker as a jumping-off point.”

“I figured out somebody was looking for me,” Charlotte explains. “At first I thought it was someone else trying to kill me, but then I realized it was Melissa.”

“And we found each other,” Melissa says with a small smile, taking Charlotte’s hand again.

“Does Alison know?” Spencer asks.

Charlotte nods. “I called her. We’re heading to Rosewood after this.”

“And I’ll finally tell Mom and Dad everything,” Melissa says.

“What about Mary Drake?” Spencer asks.

“I still don’t know if I can trust her,” Charlotte murmurs. 

“That makes two of us,” Spencer quips. She takes a step back, crossing her arms. “You two are both my sisters.”

“We are,” Charlotte confirms. “For better or for worse.”

“That’s for weddings,” Melissa points out, but Charlotte shrugs.

Spencer takes a shaky breath. She thinks about what Hanna and Lottie might be doing right now. “You can’t just take her back, Melissa.”

Melissa’s eyes darken. “Of course I can. She’s my daughter.”

Spencer feels her heart start pounding harder. “We took care of her for five months. We know her, more than anyone. We’re as much mothers to her as you’ve ever been. Don’t let this be another thing that tears us apart. Don’t do this to her.”

“You mean to _you_ ,” Melissa says pointedly.

“To all of us,” Spencer will allow.

“Hey,” Charlotte says lightly. “It’ll be okay. This kid’s got too many people who want her. There are worse things a child could have.”

\--

Even as her heart is breaking, Spencer can’t deny that there’s something sweet about seeing Melissa hold her daughter again. Melissa’s eyes get so big, like she didn’t realize how long she was away until Lottie was in her arms. Charlotte comes right over, but then her face grows tentative. 

“She’s beautiful,” Charlotte breathes.

“Yeah,” Melissa says softly. “Hi, little girl. I missed you so much.”

And that’s when Spencer knows: not only is Melissa going to take her, but she _should_. She’s Lottie’s mother, and she loves her. 

What they had was never going to be more than temporary.

\--

Two days later, Melissa and Charlotte take Lottie back to Rosewood. Hanna and Spencer cry so hard they both have headaches the next day, and they call in sick to work.

“We knew this would happen,” Spencer says stuffily.

“Yeah,” Hanna replies. “But knowing and feeling are two different things.”

Hanna isn’t wrong. They clean up the apartment together, putting all of Lottie’s things in one corner. The “Baby’s First Christmas” ornament sits on top, and underneath it is the picture of Hanna trying to coax a smile out of Lottie as they perch on the not-too-creepy Santa’s lap.

“We’ll send this to Melissa,” Spencer murmurs, but it comes out almost like a question. Like always, she doesn’t know Melissa’s plan.

But a week later, she does. Melissa calls her and reveals that she and Charlotte are moving to D.C. “It’ll be easy for Charlotte to find work there,” she explains. “And I think Lottie misses you guys.”

“We miss her too,” Spencer admits, trying to measure her reaction.

“I know,” Melissa says. “You’re also her mother, in a way. And so is Hanna. But Charlotte will be too. And I am. And I want to be a good one.”

“Is that why you’re moving?” Spencer asks. “For Lottie?”

“For Lottie,” Melissa answers. “For you.” She takes a breath, and it sounds a little tearful. Spencer herself has been working hard to keep from crying. “For family.”

“So we’re a family?”

Melissa chuckles. “Yeah, Spencer. Hate to break it to you, but we’re a family.”

Spencer grins. She can’t wait to tell Hanna the news.

“For the first time in my life, I think I’m okay with that.”

\--

So it goes a little something like this:

Lottie Drake Hastings might be the luckiest girl in the world, because she gets to have two moms but also kind of four. She has Mommy, who carried her in her tummy. Sometimes Mommy will let Lottie sit up on the bathroom counter, and when Lottie looks at their two faces side by side, she thinks she and Mommy look a lot alike. Especially after they both got haircuts last year, so now their brown hair almost hits their shoulders.

Mama has long blonde hair, and even though Lottie doesn’t look like her, Mommy says they act a lot alike. Mommy says it in that way where she’s pretending to be mad, and it’s usually after Lottie helps Mama play a prank on someone. Mama is the best at pranks, and also at knowing what to say to bullies.

Mommy and Mama got married last year, and Lottie got to be the flower girl. Someone told her that parents usually get married before they have kids, but that doesn’t make sense to Lottie, because you need a kid to throw flowers and eat the first piece of cake. When Lottie pointed that fact out to her moms, Mommy smiled and told her she was right, and Mama told her that the people who make up the rules are usually idiots. Then Lottie started saying the word “idiots” a lot, and Mommy had to give Mama a Talking To.

When Mommy and Mama went on their honeymoon, Lottie got to stay with her other sort-of-moms, Spence and Han. They’re getting married soon too, and Lottie thinks she’s pretty lucky because she’s only four-and-a-half but she’s about to be a flower girl for the second time. Spence and Han took care of Lottie when Mommy had to go find Mama, and Spence is sort of Lottie’s aunt in two ways. Mommy says she’ll explain what all that means when Lottie is a little bit older. Mommy says that “it’s complicated.” Lottie doesn’t totally know what that word means, but she thinks it might have to do with a lot of people loving her, because she definitely knows that that’s true. Spence and Han are the best, though, because they always buy Lottie books and candy and clothes. And also Han was the person who figured out that Lottie should be called Lottie, which is good, because it would be confusing if Lottie was called the same name as Mama.

Lottie also has a lot of aunts. There’s Aunt Aria and Aunt Ali and Aunt Emily. Lottie is not allowed to call either Aunt Aria or Aunt Ali  _Aunt A_ , which is okay because there would be two of them and that would be confusing anyway. Aunt Ali and Aunt Emily are the moms to Lottie’s cousin Theo, who’s pretty cool for a boy. Theo was also born before his moms got married, so that’s something he and Lottie have in common. Aunt Aria and Uncle Jason are really good friends, but Mama makes her eyebrows go up and down when she says that, so Lottie thinks there might be More to the Story. Uncle Jason is also related to Lottie in a way that doesn’t totally make sense. Lottie thinks that might be complicated, also. There’s also Mona, who isn’t an aunt exactly, but she’s friends with all of Lottie’s aunts, and she’s the best gift giver ever. She also took care of Lottie when she was a baby sometimes.

Lottie has only one set of grandparents, but all of her aunts have nice moms that are kind of like extra grandmas. Whenever Mommy and Mama take her to Rosewood, Lottie gets to see her Grandma and Grandpa. They’re going to buy her a horse when she turns five, Grandma promised. And all her extra grandmas are super fun, especially Han’s mom, who lets Lottie help manage the hotel she owns. Lottie doesn’t really know what being a manager means, but she thinks it has to do with making phone calls and looking very busy. Mama has a mom, but Lottie doesn’t call her grandma. She’s actually never met her, but Mama says that maybe one day they could meet. Mommy doesn’t seem so sure about that.

One day Mama asked Lottie if she liked her life. Lottie didn’t even have to think about it before saying yes. Of course she likes her life! She has two awesome moms who are taking her to Paris soon, and two other super nice sort-of moms, and she’s going to get a dog at Christmas, and on her last birthday so many people gave her hugs and told her they loved her that Mommy actually started to cry. Lottie didn’t know why she was crying at first, but Mommy told her they were happy tears.

Lottie doesn’t totally understand that, but she sort of does. Sometimes she cries because she skins her knees or because Mama draws the line at two new stuffed animals or because someone at school is mean to her. But mostly she’s so happy and there are so many fun things to do that she probably could cry happy tears, except usually that just comes out like laughing. Lottie loves the sound of people’s laughter, especially her moms’ laughter. She likes making people happy, which Spence says is “remarkable.”

Lottie doesn’t think she’s remarkable. She just thinks she’s Lottie, and she thinks that’s pretty cool.


End file.
